Dickinson College to Host Central Pennsylvania Consortium Africana Studies Conference
From left: Trevor Getz, Boris Diop and Max Lyonga.
Event will feature keynote speakers, discussions, art and music
Dickinson College will host an Africana studies conference, Challenging the Single Story: Interrogating (Mis)Representations of Africa and Its Diaspora, on Saturday, April 6, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Bringing together representatives from three liberal-arts colleges—Dickinson, Gettysburg College and Franklin & Marshall College—the Central Pennsylvania Consortium (CPC) event features keynote addresses by novelist and journalist Boris Diop and historian Trevor Getz, as well as artwork by Dickinson Artist-in-Residence Max Lyonga, in-depth discussions by on-campus and visiting experts and a performance by a Congolese band.
Diop is widely recognized as one of the most artistically and philosophically serious Senegalese writers of his generation; his 2000 novel, Murambi: The Book of Bones, has been called “a miracle” by Toni Morrison. He teaches creative writing at the American University of Nigeria. While on campus, he also will meet with Africana studies, French & francophone and writing students in small groups, in and out of class; will deliver a public reading; and will accept the college’s 2018-19 Stellfox Award.
Getz is a historian of African and global history and author of numerous books, including the award-winning Oxford University Press graphic history Abina and the Important Men (Oxford University Press) and A Primer for Teaching African History (Duke University Press). He is principal content development and evaluation manager for the Gates Ventures on World History Project.
Lyonga, currently serving an artistic residency at Dickinson, will take part in a panel discussion, moderated by Getz, about art and aesthetic expression in Africa and its diaspora, along with Megan O’Neil '15 and Isoke Senghor '20 (Africana studies, Spanish). He will showcase his abstract-expressionist work in an art exhibition and opening reception in the Rector Atrium, featuring the Emmanuel Nsingani Congolese Band.
The conference also will feature a discussion on the production of knowledge in Africa and the African diaspora with Visiting International Scholar in Philosophy Jean-Pierre Karegeye and Instructor in Africana Studies Burleigh Hendrickson, as well as a talk about American public diplomacy operations and soft power in Africa with international journalist Siobhán O’Grady ’13 and Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies Ed Webb.
The conference is free. Register here.
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Published April 2, 2019